Upright Rows?

[Guest]

Although I haven't done them, I heard Upright Rows are good for the lateral detls. They are also a compound exercise as they work the traps and biceps to a degree depending on your grip, which is a bonus for a compound exercise freak like myself.

However, I've also heard that this exercise is dangerous and should be avoided.

I'm hoping this isn't true because this is the only compound exercise I can find that primarly targets the laterla detls.

I've done some reading online and a lot of peopel agree that this exercise is too dangerous as it makes the shoulders move in an un-natural way and can casue serious damage to the shoulders in the long-term.

Some people argue that strict form and a wider grip on the barbell will take care of the safety issue of this exercise.

What's your take on this? Is there a way to perform upright rows without the dangerousness?

Thanks

[Ironman]

Try doing them with both barbells and dumbbells. If you can do either or both without pain, go for it. If they hurt, stop. Lateral raises are just as good. There is a thread about laterals just a couple down. Further down there is one about upright rows.

[kevin harris]

i love uprights with the barbell, however because of a rotator cuff injury several years ago i vant do them without pain, i now do dumbell uprights, you can feel it alot in the laterall head.
play around with the space between the dumbells- for me i have found that a little less than shouldar length apart really hits the middle delt.

all in all good excersize

[TimD]

The majority of people get into trouble with upright rows for two reasons. 1. The most obvious, is that they bench to the exclusion of other things, and the shoulder girdle gets way out of balance, and impingements set in. 2. The grip on the Barbell is too narrow and caused pain to the wrists. Done with a shoulder width or wider grip, it's a perfectly natural movement. Think about when your moving boxes off the floor and putting them up on the counter. Same movement. It's also identical to power cleaning a weight up off the floor. If you have impingements, well, then they might be an exercise to avoid, but if you have a healthy shoulder girdle, fine. Also, strive to keep balance in the shoulder/upper back area. Do equal and opposites in the same planes of motion, i.e. vertical, horizontal, and the areas in between.
Tim

[Charlie]

Nice... I love upright rows too but I stopped doing them when I heard how dangerous they were.

So lets say I were to come up with a program consisting of a push/pull split:
Like this:

superset: Bench Press & BB Rear Delt Rows

And then followed by Upright Rows?

What exactly do impingments feel like? and where do they occur?

[TimD]

LOL, you'll know impingements if you have them. Everytime you try to put something overhead, your shoulders will scream at you. And yes, I like the setup you mentioned, BP's and rows go together nicely when it comes to balance in the horizontal plane, and the upright rows keep it good on the vertical plan. Other possibilities for push/pull would be DB presses (elbows out, palms facing) paired with pull/chinups. Again, balance is maintained in the vertical plane.
Tim

[Charlie]

Thank TimD!

Also, do DB Presses work the lateral detls too? aren't they the same as the military press?

[TimD]

Good question Charlie. Because they are DB's , grips and positioning can be varie, and most variations are all good. If held at the shoulders, palms and elbows out, it is more like a military press, hitting the front side more. When held semisupinated, elbows out at around 90 degrees, with palms facing, you're bring the whole shoulder girdle (to include upper back) into the mix, and because I do a lot of Barbell work, this is my choice for the DB's , as it gets a lot of the shoulder area that could be missed with front MP's I also do a lot of behind the neck stuff too, but you really should go slow on that one, and get flexibility in the shoulders before seriously working with it. It doesn't work for all people, especially those that have tight shoulder girdles.
Tim

[Charlie]

Thanks!

Oh yeah... I did the upright rows today and I'm not sure if what I was feeling was impingement.

As I raised the BB around nipple height, I felt a light pinching somewhere around my lateral delts. I'm not sure if this was impingement or just muscle soreness, but it hurt enough for me to not raise the BB any higher.

[TimD]

OK, I'm not a physician or a chiro, but those are definately warming signs. Try getting some rotator cuff work in, and balance out your program. You can fix this in your early stages
Tim